The present invention relates to a nuclear fuel identification code reader and a fuel assembly, and more particularly to a nuclear fuel identification reader and a fuel assembly which are suitable for identification of a fuel assembly in a fuel storage pool.
In the past, the identification of a nuclear fuel identification number of a fuel assembly loaded into a fuel storage pool has been effected by an operator by watching on a television monitor a video image taken by a marine TV camera. This is reported in Nuclear Technology, Vol. 72, March 1986, pp. 321-327.
In the prior art method in which the video image of the TV camera is monitored through the TV monitor, there are some cases where it is not possible to identify the fuel identification number marked on the fuel assembly if clad (soft clad primarily consisting of Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3) is deposited on the fuel assembly.
A solution to the above problem is disclosed in JP-A-57-53688, particularly FIG. 4 thereof. Eddy current sensors are inserted into recesses formed on a top surface of a handle of the fuel assembly to detect the fuel identification number.
JP-A-60-207095 and JP-A-57-110994 disclose techniques to identify the fuel assembly by detecting a mark such as a groove formed at a top of the fuel assembly by ultrasonic wave.